Secrets in Boxes
by Erin Giles
Summary: Secrets in boxes that don't keep too well Some things are just better best forgotten, problem is they never stay secret long...


"I don't see why we have to do this now Zo'?" Wash called out to his wife from where he was half buried underneath their bunk.

"Because dear, we finally have the chance too, and you don't have any excuses to run away from the suggestion." Zoë scorned as she continued to sort through a box full of dinosaurs, chucking ones into a pile on the floor that had either heads or limbs missing.

Wash mumbled something about border planets having nothing to do as he pulled another box out from under their bed and witnessed the destruction of the entire Jurassic era before his eyes, "Zo', lambie-toes, what are you doing?"

"Throwing out rubbish husband, which is what we'd agreed on this morning."

"Rubbish? Zo', these are priceless artefacts. These we're my granpa's." He said, picking up a headless T-Rex and waving it at Zoë. Zoë patiently took the T-Rex from him,

"These are headless." She said as she went to throw it back on the pile, but Wash was too quick for her, he grasped the dinosaur out her hand.

"It makes them more authentic!" he said, inspecting the T-Rex, "Makes it look like something, bigger and greater, tore the head of the biggest and greatest dinosaur there was to ever…" He broke off as Zoë continued to watch him with that expression on her face, which meant she had won. "Fine," Wash said, dumping the dinosaur on the ground and turning back to the box he had just unearthed.

"Just make sure you don't go lying about them bein' your granpa's again, dong ma?" she said teasingly as she picked up another box and started to search through it.

"Wu de tyen ah!" Wash exclaimed as he emptied a box out onto the floor, smiling to himself, "I thought I'd lost half of this stuff." Wash said as he excitedly started to paw through the bits of paper, reading them with fascination, "It's my dissertation from flight school on the combustible speed of a…" He broke off as he realised Zoë was looking at him as if he had two heads, the reason for this due to the fact he had just emptied the box over the only tidy part left of their bunk, "I'll put it back where I found it then…" he said gathering it back up and pilling it into the box.

It was at that moment that a cry of food came from somewhere above them as Zoë packed the last bits into her box and shoved it back under the bed. She picked up another box that she had piled full of things to be throw out, "I'll put this down in the cargo bay before dinner." She said almost to herself, as she headed for the stairs, "Wash, you coming?" Wash looked up from what he was engrossed in,

"Hmm, yeah, I'll be up in a minute. Lemmi just shove my papers back in here."

"Don't be too long, 'cause I ain't fighting Jayne for your food again." Zoë joked before she chucked the box up the ladder and followed it. Wash was already back to staring into the depths of the box he had found all his old assignments from flight school in. A small box stared back at him with the words, _Hoban's baby box, _written in scrawling writing on the top.

Wash pulled the box out and weighed it in his hands, something was obviously in there, but he didn't want to contemplate it. He placed a hand on the lid as if he was going to open it, before he thought better of. Instead, he pulled himself to his feet, taking the box with him as he exited the bunk. He watched Zoë enter the Mess before he made his way down to the cargo bay where he deposited the box in the one Zoë had just put there, hiding it under an old blanket, he turned away from it to head to the Mess for dinner, before having second thoughts.

He turned back and plucked the headless T-Rex from the box, concealing it in one of the lower pockets of his jump suit before heading up for dinner.

Zoë found the T-Rex the next morning, not very carefully hid beneath Wash's pile of dirty laundry. She didn't understand how the man could not walk two steps further and place his dirty socks and overalls in the laundry basket. She rolled her eyes as she discovered it, stubborn he may be, but subtle he was not. She deposited his clothes in the basket before taking the offending dinosaur back down to the box in the cargo bay, carefully avoiding the bridge.

She chucked it into the box where it promptly bounced back out. She sighed, picking it up again and lifting the blankets up to place it beneath. She paused in what she was doing as she noticed the box there. Had he really meant to throw _Hoban's baby box _out? She picked it out, dropping the headless T-Rex back in. Maybe he had wanted to throw it out, maybe she wasn't supposed to find it, supposed to know.

"Zoe? You doing anything?" Zoë fumbled with the box as Mal spoke behind her, shoving the box back in beside the blankets.

"No, Sir." She said as she tried to pull the blankets over the top of the box, "Just throwing out some old rubbish that I found." She said as she turned towards the Captain, "What can I do for you, Sir?"

"I believe that husband of yours is needing some help with his communication skills on the planet we're coming up on. You see if you can get a hold of our contact?"

"Will do, Sir." Zoë replied, turning and making her way up the stairs towards the bridge.

Mal watched her go, frowning slightly as he turned back to look at the box she'd left behind, lifting the blankets up to read the name Hoban. He frowned slightly, wondering whom Hoban was before he made his way out of the cargo bay.

River watched Malcolm Reynolds leave before she came out from hiding. She giggled as she twirled round, waltzing with herself as she sang, "Little Boy Blue come blow your horn, the sheep's in the meadow the cow's in the barn…" she stopped beside the box of rubbish, pulling out Hoban's baby box and sitting cross legged with it on her lap.

"River?" Book called as he came into the Cargo bay from the Infirmary. River looked up from where she was sat on the floor.

"Mother named him. Runs in the family." River told him matter-of-factly.

"What have you got there, River?"

"Secrets!" she whispered quickly, looking about as if she was about to be found out, "Secrets in boxes that don't keep too well, not if he's mummies little boy." She titled her head looking at the box for a moment as Book knelt down beside her.

"What's inside?" he asked as he reached a hand out for it. River slapped his hand away.

"Sssh! No telling! Bad boy's don't get good things!" she said before she rose to her feet gracefully, taking the box with her. Book looked after her, quite taken aback by the whole incident.

River sat at the table in the Mess, the box in front of her as she inspected the outside of the box thoroughly. Jayne was sat at the other end of the table, polishing Vera up so she was nice and shining. He kept glancing nervously down at River who was inspecting the outside of this newly discovered box with the air of a fascinated child.

Book entered behind River and watched her watching the box for a long moment before going into the kitchen to fetch himself a drink. He sat himself opposite Jayne as Jayne nodded in the direction of River.

"What she found now?" Jayne asked as he spat on Vera and continued to rub her vigorously until she was gleaming.

"I don't know. I believe she found it in the cargo bay in a box full of rubbish, whether it has something in it or not, I don't know, but I see no harm in letting her have her fun." Book replied as Jayne got up from the table, taking Vera with him.

"Just so long as she ain't got artillery in there I don't care what fun she has." Jayne said as he exited the kitchen area.

"Hit him where it hurts." River said softly sniffing the box, not loud enough for Book to hear. "Bang!" River shouted, startling Book into dropping the teapot.

"River, what…" River got serenely to her feet.

"Never see it coming." River said softly as she exited.


End file.
